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Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Ah, yes! Our young people are at it again! "The Envoy~The Anselm Saga Part 1" is a fictional story set in the medieval time illustrated completely with LEGO creations! Castles, knights and a joust are just some of the features of this epic book. The LEGO illustrations are amazing! The LEGOs come to life!

You can purchase it on their new website, Falworth Publishing, or right over there on the side bar is a place to click and buy the book. Only $2.99!! It is an ebook that can easily be read on your mobile device or computer. This is only the first of three episodes. The next episode is underway and will be available in the near future.

And very soon we will be launching all of our books, Warfare by Duct Tape included, in Kindle and print! We are so excited with the new ventures and adventures that our family is experiencing in this season of our lives!

(Just a hint, Julia is also about to release her novel....more details coming soon!)

Congratulations! Your ebooks have been emailed to you with the addresses you provided.

Thanks to everyone who entered, and don't forget to stop by our newly refilled Etsy Shop and check out some of the cute yo-yo earrings, lovely mason jar lamps and old-fashioned kitchen accessory light fixtures!You will find us linked up at some of these fine sites.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Salsa is one of our huge summer favorites. Here is our recipe for fresh salsa. I wouldn't recommend canning it as it doesn't have the right balance of acidic ingredients to safely can.

This salsa is so good, it will be gone before you know it!!

Ingredients:

8 cups diced tomatoes

2 1/2 cups chopped onions

1 cup chopped green pepper

1 or 2 chopped jalapeno pepper (to taste)

2 teaspoons cumin

2 teaspoons black pepper

2 Tablespoons sugar (or honey)

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 (6 oz.) cans tomato paste

1 cup water

1/3 cup vinegar

Directions:

Wash your tomatoes in cool water. You can scald them and remove the skins if you like but we just chop them up and enjoy the whole tomato!

Dice up the tomatoes, green peppers, onions, garlic (if you are using fresh, otherwise substitute equivalent amount) and jalapeno peppers. Be extra careful handling the jalapeno. It can "burn" your skin. I don't touch them at all, just use a knife or fork to hold them down while cutting. If you do happen to get the jalapeno juice on your skin and it starts to sting, soak your skin in milk. It works....I know. ;)

In a separate bowl, mix the tomato paste, liquids and spices. We use a whisk.

Combine the veggies and spice mixture and mix them together well. The flavors will blend together overnight but it still awesome immediately.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Summer is here! The kids are done with school and looking for fun stuff to do. You don't want them vegged out in front of the Wii all day, right? How about we challenge their inner artist and creativity with some of these great activities?! :D

Let's start with the girls.

Julia has written three eBooks on the art of crafting homemade jewelry, and shared all her tips and tricks for making lovely quality pieces that wear well and look great!
She tells you what tools to use, where to get your supplies, and lays out projects for making seven different necklaces, seven different earring styles, and five different bracelet techniques in her three eBooks.

EASY-to-follow, step-by-step instructions with tons of PICTURES make creating your own beautiful jewelry a breeze.

Julia sells the eBooks as downloads on her website, www.jewelsbyjuliashop.com, for only $4.95 apiece, but we are GIVING AWAY a copy of EACH three eBooks to three winners! Three of you will win all three of these for yourselves! See the Jewels by Julia rafflecopter entry form at the bottom of this post for more details.

Now for the guys!

Bring history to LIFE with your own historically-based WEAPONS and ARMOR crafted from DUCT TAPE! Oh yeah, this is cool. :D

Our two guys, Mark and Steven, have written a series of eBooks on creating a myriad of awesome gear ranging from swords, shields, helmets, the armored glove, flails, halbergs, throwing axes, battle axes, blowguns, and MORE from easy-to-find materials like PVC pipe and soft PVC pipe insulation, (that's right mom - no worries! These weapons are safe and durable!) craft foam, cardboard, and of course... duct tape.

There are also patterns to follow to make tunics, cloaks, money pouches, and money - for paying up those "ransom demands' should any of the valiant knights be captured. Laid out in the books are the "rules" of the battle game.

Your boys will spend hours having fun while "battling" with their friends and challenging their creative ingenuity - and it's as easy as following along with the step-by-step instructions and photographs, put together by our own boys.

Mark and Steven sell these ebooks as downloads on their website, www.warfarebyducttape.com... but we are GIVING AWAY a copy of one book of their choice to TEN winners! You have lots of chances to win! Details are provided in the Warfare by Duct Tape rafflecopter form below. :)

But that's not all! Until the giveaway ends on June 26th, you can use the coupon code "creativesummer" to get 20% off your entire purchase on any of these awesome eBooks!

And... all the proceeds from our eBook sales for the months of June and August go towards our 2-week family vacation to Virginia, New York, and Maine to visit some close friends and family members. We appreciate your purchase!

Sunday, June 9, 2013

This is a profound scripture. Life is full of ups and downs. When you are in the downs, unexpected bills, broken tooth, aches and pains, you name it....the Peace of God can rule, actually govern your life......if you LET it.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

We are planning a big trip in August to go several states away, hundreds of miles. We will need to take extra cargo for our trip. We have 5 adult sized people in our family and our van is just too small.

SO, we decided to bite the bullet and rent a van, full size with room for 12. That should about do it with all our stuff in there! :)

I started to search on the internet for rental places and prices.

Let me give you the skinny....if a vacation with a rental vehicle is in your future, make the reservation onlineAFTER you have searched for online discounts and coupons. I went with Avis only because they had the size of van that I needed.

I saved $200 by making the reservation online with a discount.

I know because I made the reservation first by talking to a real person, at the local Avis place, who would not even consider entering any coupons...and no email receipt......and took tons of information about me all except for my shoe size....and then I had to cancel that reservation after I made the better one online.

Also if you need an unusual size like we did, make your reservation early, even months ahead because they book up and you may be out if you wait to reserve. You can cancel up to 48 hours before the trip (check with the company that you choose) if you need to make a change.